Connecting Questions > Stereotypes > Lesson Plans

Lesson Plan

Part 1

• Choose a current developing news story on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Alternatively, choose a recent news story on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that developed over at least several days. Good places to look for stories include Web sites, weekly magazines, and newspapers. Many of them are listed in the Resources section.
  
  
• Discuss the concepts of objectivity and subjectivity, and how tone and vocabulary, point of view, sources, and position and length of a story may reveal subtle biases in the news story. Some discussion questions might include the following:
  
  
• What difference does it make if one party is described as attacking while the other is said to be responding or retaliating?
  
  
• Is violence described as terrorism or nationalist struggle?
  
  
• What kinds of adjectives are used to describe the event?
  
  
• What might these choices tell you about the point of view of the author?
  
  
• If photographs are used, what is their impact?
  
  
• Is it possible for any news writing to be completely objective or neutral? Why or why not?
  
  
• Discuss the background to the news story you have chosen with the class. Good sources are included in the Resources section.
  
  
• Have students track the development of the story over a one-week period in several different publications from different regions. Students should collect as many articles as possible on the event from different sources and keep a scrapbook in which they record the date, page, reporter, and length of the story as well as what images, if any, were used and what overall impression the article gives about the people and the region involved.
  
  

Part 2

• Have students bring their scrapbooks to class. Lead a classroom discussion about the differences in the articles from different newspapers, asking students to give concrete examples of how vocabulary, images, placement, etc., might affect the reader.
  
  
• Working in small groups, have students compare and contrast various points of view represented by the articles they have collected. Have them chart contrasting perspectives (for example, pro-Israeli statements, pro-Palestinian statements, and statements they see as non-biased).
  
  
• Discussion questions:
  
  
• Should news and editorials be unbiased? Why or why not?
  
  
• What issues should the reader keep in mind when reading a news story?
  
  
• Why is it important to read several sources before drawing conclusions?
  
  
• Have each group create two editorials, editorial cartoons, or a television commentary that take a recent and related issue and present different points of view about that issue.
  
  

Assessment

How well can students demonstrate an understanding of an editorial point of view in a news story?

Resources

Global Connections Essays:

• Politics: From Royalty to Democracy
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/themes/politics/index.html
  Politics in the Middle East, far from being solely an issue of Islamic resurgence as is often presented by Western media, actually reflects a complex mixture of issues that include nationalism, religion, social and economic concerns, anti-colonialist sentiments, tribal loyalties, and ethnic identities.
  
  
• Nation-States
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/questions/nations/index.html
  How were the modern nation-states of the Middle East created?
  
  
• Religion: Three Religions, One God
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/themes/religion/index.html
  Three of the world's major religions -- the monotheist traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- were all born in the Middle East and are all inextricably linked to one another.
  
  
• Economics: It's More Than Oil
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/themes/economics/index.html
  National economies throughout the Middle East struggled in the 19th and 20th centuries to develop their natural and human resources, to modernize their societies, and to raise their standards of living.
  
  
• Roles of Women
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/questions/women/index.html
  What factors determine the changing roles of women in the Middle East and Islamic societies?
  
  
• Stereotypes
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/questions/types/index.html
  What are some typical misperceptions and stereotypes Westerners hold about Islam and the Middle East, and vice versa?
  
  
• Culture: A Rich Mosaic
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/themes/culture/index.html
  Culture, a shared set of traditions, belief systems, and behaviors, is shaped by history, religion, ethnic identity, language, and nationality, among other factors. The Middle East consists of approximately 20 countries, with many different religions and a variety of ethnic and linguistic groups.
  
  

Internet Resources:

• Palestine, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
  http://www.merip.org/palestine-israel_primer/intro-pal-isr-primer.html
  The struggle over land, and not religious differences, is the cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
  
  
• Online NewsHour
  http://www.pbs.org/newshour
  NewsHour is the nation's first and only hour-long nightly broadcast of national news.
  
  
• NOW with Bill Moyers
  http://www.pbs.org/now
  Bill Moyers anchors an hour-long weekly news series offering fresh perspectives and analysis on today's events, issues, and the ideas that are shaping our world.
  
  
• All Things Considered
  http://www.npr.org/programs/atc
  For two hours every weekday, All Things Considered senior host Robert Siegel and his co-hosts present the program's trademark mix of news, interviews, commentaries, reviews, and offbeat features.
  
  
• Arab Stereotypes and American Educators
  http://www.adc.org/index.php?id=283&no_cache=1&sword_list[]=stereotype
  An overview of American stereotypes in popular culture
  
  
• The Jerusalem Post Online
  http://www.jpost.com
  A source of information about Israel, Jewish affairs, and developments in the Middle East
  
  
• Ha'aretz Online
  http://www.haaretzdaily.com/
  Founded in 1919 by Zionist immigrants, Ha'aretz is a daily newspaper with a broadly liberal outlook on domestic and international affairs.
  
  
• Palestine Times Online
  http://www.ptimes.org
  The Palestine Times is a monthly political English newspaper that contains Palestinian news, world news, interviews, and analysis.
  
  
• ArabNews Online
  http://www.arabnews.com/
  ArabNews, the first Saudi English-language daily newspaper, strives to break cultural barriers and unify Arabs and non-Arabs alike in responding to their need for information.
  
  
• New York Times Online
  http://www.nytimes.com/
  The Web site for the New York Times newspaper, with articles updated throughout the day
  
  
• Christian Science Monitor Online
  http://www.csmonitor.com/
  Church ownership and a public-service mission give the Christian Science Monitor a unique journalistic voice.
  
  
• The Independent Online
  http://www.independent.co.uk/
  The Independent is a relatively new (founded in 1986) British newspaper with a mission to take a broader view.
  
  
• Reuters News Service Online
  http://www.reuters.com
  Reuters is the world's largest news and television agency, with 2,498 editorial staff, journalists, photographers, and camera operators in 198 bureaus in 150 countries.
  
  
• Associated Press Online
  http://www.ap.org/
  The Associated Press is a not-for-profit cooperative and is owned by its 1,550 U.S. daily newspaper members. It also serves more than 8,500 newspaper, radio, and television subscribers worldwide.
  
  
• CNN Online
  http://www.cnn.com/
  The Web site for CNN is updated throughout the day. CNN employs a global team of almost 4,000 news professionals.
  
  
• Turkish Daily News Online
  http://www.turkishdailynews.com/
  Turkish Daily News is Turkey's first and only English daily newspaper.
  
  

Related Video:

• Video Media Depictions of Women
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/video/mediadepictions.html
  Barbara Petzen Harvard University
  
  

Related Activities:

• Global Connections. Stereotypes: More Than Meets the Eye
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/educators/types/lesson1.html
  Recognizing, considering consequences, and challenging stereotypes
  
  
• Global Connections. "Reading" Political Cartoons
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/educators/types/lesson3.html
  Cartoons express editorial viewpoints and often rely on stereotypes.
  
  
• Media Analysis
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/muslims/
  Students will compare coverage of Islam or Muslim-related news stories, such as Ramadan, in a U.S. and Islamic newspaper.
  
  
• Tolerance in Times of Trial
  http://www.pbs.org/americaresponds/tolerance.html
  Students will explore the problems inherent in assigning blame to populations or nations of people. Students will also look at contemporary examples of ethnic conflict, discrimination, and stereotyping at home and abroad.
  
  
• Arab Americans: In the Aftermath of the Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.
  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/lifeafter911/arabamerican .html
  Students will begin to understand who Arab Americans are, where they come from, and the cultural diversity and complexity of what it means to be Arab American.
  
  
• Advertisers Tread Lightly
  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/october01/warads/index.html
  Students will analyze how one national company responded to the recent tragedy by incorporating special messages into its advertising.
  
  
• Stereotypes and Myths about Islam
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/muslims/activities.html
  Students will explore what they know about Muslims and/or Islam, and then they will look for information that confirms or contradicts what they know.
  
  

Extension activities

For a shorter assignment that does not require students to have Internet access, choose three articles on the same event from three of the publications listed in the Resources section. Copy the articles and distribute them to students. Have the students analyze the point of view of the writer, taking into account tone, vocabulary, information given and its placement, sources used, point of view, length of story, placement of story, and images used.

Using online resources provided by public television's Frontline, choose interviews with Middle Easterners and Westerners on the same topic. One good feature, for example, is Terror and Tehran. (www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/tehran/interviews/)

• Ask students to select two of the interviews (one Western, the other Middle Eastern) that take different positions.
  
  
• Use the transcripts of interviews provided by Frontline to analyze for stereotypical thinking.
  
  
• Ask students to discuss the pros, cons, and consequences of holding each position.
  
  
• Ask students to describe means for challenging each position and points of view.
  
  

NCSS standards

Culture

• Predict how data and experiences may be interpreted by people from diverse cultural perspectives and frames of reference.
• Interpret patterns of behavior reflecting values and attitudes that contribute to or pose obstacles to cross-cultural understanding.

Time, continuity, and change

• Investigate, interpret, and analyze multiple historical and contemporary viewpoints within and across cultures related to important events, recurring dilemmas, and persistent issues while employing empathy, skepticism, and critical judgment.

Global connections

• Explain how language, art, music, belief systems, and other cultural elements can facilitate global understanding or cause misunderstanding.
• Explain conditions and motivations that contribute to conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among groups, societies, and nations.

For more information, see the National Standards for Social Studies Teachers, Volume I.